The Mayor of the Upper Hunter Shire, Maurice Collison, has written to the Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler, asking for "immediate and ongoing" assistance to keep the 16-bed Gumman Place Hostel, in Merriwa, 273km northwest of Sydney, open.
"I write to you to advise of the serious plight of small rural councils responsible for operating aged care facilities. These facilities are no longer able to be sustained by councils and the increasing cost of meeting compliance is unsustainable," he wrote.
The Council is losing $400,000 every year, $7,700 a month keeping the facility, home to 14 residents on average, open. This figure far surpasses the annual rates income from Merriwa residents, which number only just over 1,000, the Mayor said.
"We simply cannot continue to subsidise this facility at such a high cost while still providing essential services like libraries, swimming pools, and sports facilities that our community relies on for health and wellbeing," said the Mayor.
"The federal government has been lax in its support for councils running aged care services. Without urgent assistance, Gummun Place and similar facilities face an uncertain future."
The letter lists aged care facilities in the area that have closed, including the planned closure of Mercy Services' home in Singleton, as we reported earlier this month, after 40 years of service and potentially forcing the relocation of 38 residents.
Earlier this year the closure of Wallsend Aged Care Facility was announced. And Anglican Care's Cedar Wharf Lodge in Bulahdelah was set to close, but in October, we reported it will continue to be run as a nursing home by Stroud Community Lodge.
Upper Hunter Shire Council has called for expressions of interest from interested parties to lease, operate, or purchase Gummun Place Hostel to ensure the home remains open.
